The Dragon Slayer and the Knightess
by strawhat luffy krian
Summary: Erza and Natsu end up going on a job together, with the whole matter leaving Natsu in complete confusion. On the other hand, Erza wants to confirm her growing feelings for her longtime friend so she decides to take this chance to find out. What will she discover? Plus with them threat of a new group of foes, will she survive long enough to find out her feelings?
1. Chapter 1

**The Dragon Slayer and the Knightess**

**Full summary: **Natsu and Erza go on a job together due to a twist of unexpected events. The events from the Tower of Heaven still fresh in her mind; Erza starts considering her growing affection for her pink-haired friend. Could it be romantic love or is it a simple case of platonic love as it was when they were kids? And within the horizon, a new enemy group emerges so Erza has to consider her feelings while fighting off this new threat. Will she manage to find an answer when everything is said and done?

**Main Pairings: **The story as a whole will focus on Natsu and Erza, with a little of other pairings on the side, such as Gray and Juvia. There will also be a friendship bond between Levy and Lucy.

**Timeline: **This happens after the events of the Tower of Heaven arc and before the Oracion Seis Arc.

**Disclaimer; **I do not own the amazing manga and anime that is Fairy Tail( even though it's my second best of all time, only second to Naruto, OBVIOUSLY!)

**A/N: **This is only my second fanfic, my first being a Naruto one so I decided on my second being one of Fairy Tail. This is an idea I originally had two years ago but since I didn't have a lot of time back then i couldn't really do much about it. So here I am, two years later XD. I hope you guys don't mind the time lapse. I plan to update my Naruto fanfic as soon as possible so don't think I've dropped it(even with that horrible excuse of an ending) Natsu and Erza make a really cute couple in my opinion so I thought I would write something about them. I hope you guys like it. So, here goes nothing.

_A Decent Job_

Natsu Dragneel stood in front of the request board for what was the third time that day. He was checking if there were any decent jobs that were worth going to, since for the two times he had checked earlier that day, he termed the ones which were already there as 'lame'.

"Still reading through the jobs, Natsu?" Natsu was startled and turned around to come face-to-face with MiraJane. "Oh, it's you, Mira-San. Yeah, there's not one job that's worth doing." "Why don't you just go out for a stroll and when you come back, a worthwhile job will have popped up?" Cana, who was seated on her favorite seat in the hall while holding a barrel of liquor, suggested.

*sigh*"Okay, Guess I should," Natsu replied( He almost considered sneaking up to where the S-class request board was and steal a job from there if a decent job didn't appear within the next few minutes, and gave a slight chuckle at the idea) . Just as he was about to open the door, a sound appeared on the request board and Natsu recognized it all too familiarly. It was the sound of a job being posted on the request board. Natsu leapt for joy, "Yes! Finally, " Natsu raced back to the request board. The job involved saving a kidnapped boy. Natsu did not like the description of the job very much but when he skimmed through the sheet of paper and reached the bottom where the reward was written. He opened his mouth wide in shock.

"Wow! That's a lot of zeros!" He exclaimed. The price at hand was 200,000,000 jewels. "Then it's decided. I take first dibs on this mission." Levy, Jet and Droy, who had gone to see what the job was, sighed in defeat. "Not again," Levy said.

"Just hope that this time things don't go awry like they did last time," Macao told him. Natsu gulped and knew that he was referring to the time that he, Lucy and Happy had gone to retrieve a book named Daybreak for a client called Zekua Melon. The reward for the job was 200,000 jewels but due to Lucy, they never got the reward.

"Don't worry. This time I won't be going with Lucy. She went to see her dad in Acalypha and won't be coming back till after tomorrow. I'm thinking that I should do this job al…."At this point a feminine voice interjected, which Natsu knew all too well, "Then I'll come with you," Erza interrupted, before Natsu could complete his sentence.

Everyone in the guild was surprised at this sudden declaration, but none more so than Natsu, who in his wildest dreams had never imagined Erza volunteering to go on a job with him. He was about to ask why, but a stern glare from Erza and a concerned Mira shaking her head made him reconsider his decision a few minutes later.

_End_

**A/N: **Well, that's the end of Chapter 1 guys. I originally intended for it to be longer than this but this will have to do for now, since this is going to be a really long story, so I intend to follow it through all the way. Read and Enjoy.


	2. Time Alone

**A/N: **Here is Chapter 2 of my "The Dragon Slayer and the Knightess". In this chapter Natsu and Erza go to see the client of the job to get more details regarding the job, and Erza finally has a chance to be alone with Natsu. Will anything happen during this short time spent together? Read and find out! (Thanks for the follow, WaynerzOrz and all the 66 views ;)

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters. They are the sole property of Hiro Mashima.

_Time Alone_

"Erza-san, are you sure about this?" asked Cana. "You don't have to bother yourself going on such a mission, I'm sure Natsu will be more than enough to handle it, won't you, Natsu?" Cana turned to Natsu_. "Yosha! Thanks, Cana!" _Natsu rejoiced inwardly. To his surprise, however, Erza didn't even look fazed by the question. She turned to Cana and looked at her a little before replying, with a look of total seriousness, "There's something that's been bothering me for a while around Earthland, I've been sensing something foreign made its way into this continent a while ago. So this mission gives me a chance to go out and confirm my suspicions. _That, and there's something that's been bothering me inwardly relating to Natsu, so I want to understand it once and for all, since that day…."_ (She added inwardly, not telling Cana or any other of the guild mates who were in the hall). "Oh, what's wrong, Erza? If it's something we can help we'd be glad to help with, "Mira chimed in. "Yeah, you know you could always talk to us and we can help with this threat, or whatever it is that you said it was," added Levy. Jet and Droy beamed next to her, hoping that this would be their chance to get a job after failing to get any job that day.

"No, I'm afraid I can't do that right now. It may very be well be a false alarm, and I don't want the guild to be in trouble due to not having enough people, in case anything comes up within this city. So just stay put here, ''Erza answered. (Levy, Jet and Droy all became disheartened by this, which went unnoticed by Erza) She continued, "In case anything does come up, I'll be sure to let the master know. You will be here, won't you?" she finished the sentence, now looking up at the staircase. Natsu turned his head in that direction, and saw that Makarov had appeared and was sitting on the railing. He had his eyes closed, but as soon as Erza finished her question, he opened one eye, before saying, "Of course, Erza. Notify us if anything does happen, and good luck on your mission, you two." He was looking at Natsu, who still seemed to be petrified by the news regarding Erza coming with him on his job. Mira tapped him a little on the shoulder, which seemed to bring him out of his frozen stupor. He looked at her a little, and she smiled at him, before whispering to him, "Good luck, and make sure you don't die." Natsu managed to smile back at her a little, before proceeding to follow Erza, who was now out of the building. Before he shut the door behind him, he saw the remaining guild mates wave him goodbye and mutter something, which seemed to be what Mira had said before, and understood that they were telling him to be careful around Erza.

Once the duo was outside on the street, Natsu asked Erza what their next course of action was going to be. She told him that they had to first go to the client to confirm the details of the job, since the request didn't exactly leave a lot of details except the fact that the job involved rescuing a kidnapped boy. Natsu agreed with her; although he wanted to go do the job as quickly as possible, he did not know where he would even start searching from. "Wait, where does the client live?" He asked again, and Erza replied, "Here within Magnolia. He stays in the same place where you went for your first job with Lucy." They were walking as they spoke, and Natsu was actually happy that nothing had happened yet. After a few minutes of walking, Erza suddenly asked, "So, how was your first job with Lucy? I didn't really hear anything about it since I was away on that really long mission at the time." Natsu was startled at her a bit because he really didn't expect her to ask him something like this, and scratched his head a little before replying, "It was okay, I guess. Although, a total bummer for me. There weren't even any strong opponents to fight and I don't really like books, so it was kind of bland." Erza chuckled a little, "Well, you were always the kind for more dangerous job like this one, so don't tell me you'll be bored at the end of this job, or else I'll really let you have it!" She raised her fist in the air, albeit in a playful manner, to which Natsu yelped, "Yes, maam!" However, he noticed that Erza wasn't really as strict when she said this like she was in the past. "Come on, I'm not that old for you to start calling me maam," she playfully punched him, and Natsu made to rub the spot where he was punched, but noticed that it wasn't really as painful as it seemed. In the past, that punch would have left a bruise, since Erza would have been mad at being called "maam". Brushing this off as Erza just being friendlier for a change, he noticed that they had arrived at the client's house. Erza knocked at the door, and after a few minutes of no reply, the door was opened by a servant. She was clad in a maid uniform, and had her hair tied up in twin tails. Erza noticed she was very pretty, and looked around at Natsu to see if he had any reaction. Natsu just kept staring at the client's yard, being clearly amazed by how big the whole area was. She almost laughed, and remembered that Natsu had never shown any reaction to any female in almost his entire life, and for some odd reason this thought set her at ease. The servant, whose name was Manami, according to her nametag that was set on her chest area (she had sizeable breasts) asked, "What business do you have here?" Erza showed her the piece of paper which had the job description written on it, before answering, "We've come to inform the client of the job that we will handle the job that he submitted to our guild today." The maid took the paper and looked at it a little, before proceeding to ask both Erza and Natsu to show their guild marks. Natsu showed her his arm, and Erza noticed the maid blush a little over how well built he was, causing her to seeth internally. Manami looked as if she was about to touch the mark, but decided against it( possibly due to the fact that Erza was there) .Erza then proceeded to roll up her shoulder blade to show Manami her mark, and Manami almost paid no attention to it, before leading the two into the house.

The house was way bigger inside than outside and even Erza couldn't help but be impressed. Natsu, who was ogling at all the expensive furniture, and started leaping from sofa to sofa, which caused Erza to scold him, however, Manami seemed to be happy with all that was going on. "I see you've taken a liking to all the furniture within my household," a deep voice echoed within the walls of the building. Natsu stopped leaping momentarily on what was his third sofa, and looked up to the direction of the sound. A short, stubby man who had short hair and who looked strikingly similar to Makarov had appeared on the stairs, and Erza immediately deduced that it was the master of the house. "Welcome, Fairy Tail wizards, to my house. I am truly grateful that you decided to take my job request and I promise that you will be paid fully for your services. Now, let me explain the job details to you while we enjoy a warm cup of tea." He greeted them.

_ End_

**A/N:** The end guys. I made it a bit longer than Chapter 1, and I feel like I captured what I wanted to with this chapter, that is the blooming relationship between Natsu and Erza. What do you guys think? Please read and review.


	3. In the Woods

**A/N: **Chapter 3 is finally done. I debated for a while about whether to post this chapter or not this week, but I decided to post it since if I delay any further I'll become too lazy and I will lose motivation to update my chapters. This chapter will be a bit longer than chapter 3 thanks to the review of Aravind, so I'll try to make it more than 200 words this time. Here goes!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters, even Natsu and Erza. They all belong to Hiro Mashima.

_In the Woods_

Erza took a sip from her cup of tea, while looking intently at the client. The tea itself was really pleasant, so she took her time while drinking it, knowing that if she finished it too quickly, she would be tempted to ask for another cup. Looking around at the table, she was dejected that there was no cake to go with the tea. She loved cake almost as much as her guild, so she thought that she would have at least a piece before she left for the job with Natsu. "Oh well, I guess that would be asking for too much," she thought to herself.

"Hey, old man! Why is there no cake here?" a voice suddenly spoke up. Erza almost choked on her cup and she looked at the source of the voice, which she recognized all too well. Natsu had settled into the couch she was in, although he was not exactly seated on it. He was on the head rest of the couch, his arms over his legs and in one hand was the tea. "Natsu! What are you asking? This is our client, show some more respect!" Erza scolded him. To her surprise, however, Natsu smiled at her and replied, "It's okay Erza! I know how much you like cake, so I wanted you to at least have a bite before we went." Erza could not suppress the blush that creeped up onto her cheeks. "He's surprisingly observant. I didn't think he would consider something small like that for my sake," she thought to herself again. Erza then suddenly realized that Natsu had noticed the dejected look on her face earlier when she noticed there was no cake on the table.

To Erza's further surprise, the client let out a hearty laugh from the other side of the table. "Oh dear me, where are my manners? I forgot its courtesy to serve afternoon tea with cake. Manami, come here." Manami appeared in the room where the trio were. "You called for me, master?" "Yes," he continued, "I would like you to get a cake for us to enjoy." "Very well. What kind of cake would you desire to be brought?" Manami inquired. At this point the client turned on Erza and Natsu and asked them, "What kind of cake would you like to be brought?" Erza suddenly spoke up, faster than she had intended, "A strawberry cake please!" Natsu noticed this change in tone and let out a chuckle, causing the red that had appeared earlier on Erza's face to reappear. The client also chuckled, and told Manami to bring one of the strawberry cakes which was in the store. Within a few minutes the cake had been placed on the table, and Erza beamed at its sight, before proceeding to partake of it. The taste was as always, heavenly.

Suddenly, the voice of the client brought her back to her senses. It was a bit more serious, "Now then, since you two are both comfortable, why don't we get to business?" Natsu slid down from the top of the couch and moved nearer to where Erza was, causing her so squirm uncomfortably. "Too close," she thought. Natsu, as oblivious as ever, didn't notice the slight change in Erza's behavior. The client seemed not to have noticed either. "My name is Mr. Shoma. The reason I requested the two of you here today was to ask for your assistance in rescuing my son. He was kidnapped two days ago, and the police haven't had any luck in finding him. That's why I decided to turn to a magic guild. Luckily enough Fairy Tail is the nearest guild here, so that wasn't too difficult."

At this point, Erza decided to speak up, "I'm glad you decided to come to us for help, Mr Shoma. We will do our best to help locate your missing son. However, we would like to hear more about the details of how he disappeared. What exactly happened?" Shoma looked at Erza serenely then answered, "He was coming home from the forest outside Magnolia, from playing with his friends in the evening. They said their goodbyes as they were entering the city, then he decided to head to the market to buy some fruits, and he managed to buy apples, a whole lot of them. But then as he was coming home, a shadowed figure appeared in front of him. He didn't even have time to say anything. It just swept across the street towards him, and took him and they both disappeared in a wisp of smoke." Natsu finally spoke up, having not said anything for a while now, "How did you know that all this happened?" Shoma answered, "Well, my neighbor was airing her clothes in the evening from her window when she saw my son, Oma, walking towards our house. She was about to call out to him, but then she saw the shadowed figure, and closed her window slightly since she knew that something wasn't right. From the closed space she saw the shadowed figure whisk away Oma then disappear. She let out a little scream and immediately came to report it to me. I was shocked at first, so I decided to head to the local police to inform them about what I had just seen. They carried out a search the whole night within the area, but couldn't even find a sign of Oma. So they decided that what my neighbor had said must have really happened."

Erza and Natsu took in all that was saying, and after a few moments of silence after he had finished explaining the situation, Erza inquired again, "Mr. Shoma, do you have any idea why your son would be wanted by anyone, or your family in that case?" Shoma replied, "My wife died a year ago, so it's just me and Oma." Erza let out a small gasp and said, "I'm sorry," but Shoma held out a hand to quiet her, "It's okay, really. I got over it a while ago. I don't see why they would target my son. However, there was a note where Oma disappeared." He proceeded to take out a piece of paper from his pocket and stretch it out across the table. Erza made to grab it first, but Natsu was faster than her. He opened the piece of paper and Shoms continued, "As you can see, the paper says that they want a ransom of 1 billion jewels, or else my son's life is forfeit. They also demanded that the ransom should be ready within a week." Natsu took in the contents of the paper, and then proceeded to pass it to Erza, who also went through it in the same fashion. However, her eyes stopped when she reached the bottom line of the paper.

"Mr. Shoma, did you see this last part? The word Myria is written on the paper. Do you know what "Myria" means?"Erza asked. Shoma just shook his head in denial and Erza replied, "I see, so you don't know either." She then turned to Natsu. "Natsu, have you heard the word Myria anywhere else?" To her surprise, Natsu nodded. "Yeah, I heard Mira and the old man talk about it in the guild the other day. I don't really remember the details but I remember Gramps saying that it was a new organization that had cropped up recently and was carrying out a lot of miscallenous activities. Nothing much really. What else don't I know about them?" Natsu asked Erza, turning to face her. "Well, for the past week I've felt a strange magical energy around Fiore like nothing I've never felt before. Surely enough it doesn't belong here. Then from a bit of research on my own with the master and Mira, we found out that the organization's name was Myria. However, no one really knows what they look like since they always move around in cloaks. I think the person who kidnapped your son is a member of this organization," Erza explained to Shoma, now looking at him in the eye.

Shoma opened his eyes in surprise, clearly dumbfounded by what Erza had just explained to him. At a loss for words, he simply stared at the duo. Erza then proceeded, "I think the reason they kidnapped your son was to extort money from you. They seem to have a need for money to carry out their activities, whatever they are anyway." Shoma then said, albeit in a shaky voice, "But, why me? Why my son?" Erza replied again, "Well, if you haven't noticed, you're one of the wealthiest people in this kingdom," Shoma flushed a little at this," so it would be easier to extort money from you. If my perception is correct, I think you're not the only one who has been affected by the group. Natsu, weren't Gray and Juvia on a mission to rescue a kidnapped girl too? In Galuna Island?" Erza asked Natsu. Natsu replied, "Now that you mention it, I heard Gray speak about how he didn't really want to look for missing brats, but he needed the money so he really had no choice. Juvia tagged along with him saying she would go with Gray wherever he went." Erza chuckled a little at this, realizing that that was how Juvia would obviously react. "Well, then I think that there's more to this than a simple rescue mission. Mr Shoma, I think you placed just the right amount of money on this job," Erza told him.

"Then, will you accept the job?" He asked the two, unsure about their decision at this point in time. The situation really had fallen into critical hands. Natsu suddenly stood up and punched his hand, holding the fist. "Are you kidding me? Hell Yeah we are taking this job! After all, if this Myro or whatever-""It's Myria, Natsu," Erza corrected him in the middle of laughter, "–is indeed the ones pulling the strings, I hope they are strong. I've been itching for a good fight for a while now. Oh, and we'll definitely rescue your son while we're at it, Occhan!" Natsu boomed, shooting a smile at Shoma. Shoma almost cried, then he lowered his head to the ground, clearly surprising both Natsu and Erza. "Thank you very much! I'll never forget this debt!" Erza stood up and moved towards him, patting him on the back. "Don't worry about it. It's what guilds like ours usually do. And we'll definitely bring your son back, just like this idiot over here says," she pointed at Natsu, who was still standing at the same position.

"Yosh! Now that everything is settled, let's leave immediately. We don't want to head out when it's too dark do we now, Erza?" Natsu headed towards the door. Erza got up from the ground. "Yeah, you're right. We best leave before the sun sets. Well then, Mr Shoma, we'll be heading off now. We'll come back when we have your son with us." Erza then headed to the door too and followed after Natsu, but before she left completely she saw Manami's face creeping up from behind a wall. She was drooling a little at the mouth, and Erza realized that she must have been ogling at Natsu the whole time. "That bitch," she thought to herself. "Wait, did I just call her a bitch?" she thought again. Wondering why she would think of calling another girl that just because she was looking at Natsu more intently than was allowed, Natsu's voice drew her out of her thoughts, "Oi, Erza, hurry up!" Closing the door behind her, she replied, "Coming, Natsu! You know you should really learn how to control your patience, one of these days you'll get in trouble for not being patient enough." Natsu smirked at her, "Yeah right, I think you're about the only person who could land me in trouble for something like that." Tugging his scarf from behind and causing him to lose his balance, "And I just did," she looked down at him from where he was sprawled on the ground, rolling out her tongue at him. "I'll get you for this, Erza Scarlet, "Natsu replied, getting back on his feet, and proceeding to grab for her, but she was too fast for him. "Not today, Natsu Dragneel. Now you made me call you by your two names too. Baka." She grunted under her breath. Natsu just smiled, "I think I just did."

Erza smiled too, but then Natsu asked her, "So, where will we head from here? Where should we look first?" Erza looked at the road leading out of the city for a while, before saying, "Why don't we try where he was playing with his friends? In the Woods?" Natsu nodded," Yeah, that would be a good lead," then the duo proceeded to head towards the forest outside Magnolia.

_End_

**A/N: **Well, that went really well. I didn't expect that much conversation in this chapter, but I guess it helped to move the story further, plus I managed to introduce the Myria here, who will be the main antagonists in my story. Look forward to learning more about them in the following chapters ;) And thanks a lot for all the reviews, favorites and follows. I didn't expect to be added into a community so soon, so a special thanks to the admin of the NaZa community(I didn't even know such a community existed, so I'm really privileged to be a a member here. NAZA!


	4. First Encounter

**A/N:** Thanks for the wait guys. Here's chapter 4, after a plain Christmas and Boxing Day I was able to get inspiration for what to have in this chapter, so I guarantee it will be definitely better than Chapter 3. I hope you all had an enjoyable Christmas and that you will continue reading and enjoying my story. Thanks a lot for all the follows, reviews and favorites. NAZA is amazing!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters. They belong to Hiro Mashima-sensei.

_First Encounter_

_ Near the Shores of Galuna Island_

Gray Fullbuster continued to row the boat he and his partner were on, an activity he had been doing for the past two hours. He was getting a little exhausted, however, although he didn't feel like stopping anytime soon, since he knew that they had almost arrived at the destination where they had received the job request. Looking behind him, he spotted the silhouette of an island in the distant horizon, and a smile formed on his now sweaty face. The weather itself was unbearably hot, so he was shirtless and beads of sweat appeared on his well-toned torso.

On the opposite side of the boat, lay Juvia Lockser. She was sprawled on the deck of the boat, the heat having taken a more sever toll on her than on Gray. Since her body was practically water, she could easily get dehydrated in the scorching heat, plus an activity that required a considerable amount of physical strength, such as boat-rowing, would only aid in exhausting her faster. Gray had managed to make an ice shade for her, his ice did have the uncanny ability not to be melted by the sun's rays, and he offered to row the boat, taking into account her weaknesses. Juvia then looked at Gray, before bowing apologetically after managing to sit up, but remaining in the range of the shadow created by Gray's ice. This caught Gray by surprise.

"What are you making that face for?" He asked her, still rowing the boat. Juvia looked up from her position into Gray's handsome face, which caused her face to redden a bit. However, she managed to recollect herself again, before replying, "I'm sorry, Gray-sama. This is my entire fault. If I wasn't so affected by the heat I would have definitely helped in rowing the boat. Sorry I can't be of much help in this situation," she concluded, with a saddened tone in her voice. Silence enveloped the duo for a bit before Gray scoffed, breaking the stillness. Now it was Juvia's turn to be surprised. "What are you talking about? I don't mind doing this job you know. Besides if you did row and get exhausted, what would happen if we reached our client and you were in no shape to do anything? Don't be too hard on yourself, Juvia," Juvia's heart fluttered a little at the mention of her name from Gray's mouth, "your strength is vital in this mission, so rest up and conserve your energy," he finished in a hearty tone. Juvia beamed at the words, before nodding and resuming her earlier position. Gray smiled a little, and he was a little grateful that Juvia was more cooperative than normal today. Normally she would have used such an opportunity to latch onto her "Gray-sama", so today proving different was a breather for Gray.

The two of them had received a job request from the chief of Galuna Island. It had been quite some time before Fairy Tail had heard from this specific client, so Gray was as surprised as the rest of the guild was. Deciding that the situation may have been serious as what happened with Lyon in the past, Gray decided to handle the job, since he already had some degree of familiarity with the clients. Apparently, the residents of the island were being attacked by what they described as a "bear-like" creature, which maimed them on specific nights and also kidnapped a young demon girl, since they were revealed to be missing in the mornings after each attack. The attacks had been going on for a week, and Gray found it odd that someone decided to attack the demons in their own home. Team Erza itself had been surprised at first when they found out the true nature of the demons, so they thought others would stay away from the island now that its true form was always on for everyone to see. Apparently not everyone was surprised, or so it seemed.

Juvia managed to hoodwink Gray into tagging along with her by requesting him in the presence of Mira. The two girls had formed a really close bond during Juvia's stay in Fairy Tail, so Mira edged on Gray to tag Juvia along, saying it wouldn't hurt to have her at least tag along him for a change. Since Juvia joined Fairy Tail, she always tried to go on a job with Gray, owing to the fact that he spent most of his time with Team Natsu. The few times he was alone he always made sure not to tell Juvia when he was heading out for his jobs, resuming in the evening or a few days later clearly exhausted and bruised. Juvia seemed to notice this, although she didn't mind much, since as long as Gray was okay she really didn't mind not being taken along on his jobs. This time, however, she wanted to come along with him, since the job itself looked difficult and she didn't know how long he would be gone, not wanting to spend a lot of time without him in the guild.

Juvia perked a little as they approached the island. Getting up quickly, she rushed towards the edge of the boat and looked into the sea. This startled Gray a little, so he asked Juvia, "What is it?" Juvia, however, continued to stare into the water, in which ripples had started forming and the water was now moving at a faster speed than the stillness which it held before. An expression of shock appeared on Juvia's face, and she looked at Gray a little before telling him, in a louder voice than she had ever spoken to him before, "Gray-sama, there's a storm coming this way." Gray looked into the sky, and surely enough a bunch of nimbus clouds had gathered into the sky above them, blocking out the sun that was there only mere moments ago, and causing the temperature to suddenly drop. This change in temperature had suddenly caused Juvia to become rejuvenated, and no sooner had Gray looked away from the sky than a bolt of lightning hit the boat, a few meters away from where Juvia and Gray both sat.

Water began filling up the boat rapidly, aided by how fast it was moving in the sea below them. Juvia held her hands across her mouth, clearly panicking, but not without good reason. The most obvious answer was to turn into water herself and carry Gray towards the island in her, but if the lightning did hit her as she was en route to the island, she would definitely be in dire straits. Gray seemed to have noticed this too, since due to his quick thinking, he clasped his hands together and shouted, "Ice Make: Floor!" No sooner had the words left his mouth than the sea beneath them froze instantly, stretching for miles before reaching the Island's shore. Holding out his hand to Juvia, he told her, "Let's go."

Juvia quickly took his hand and left the boat, which proved to be a good decision, since a bolt of lightning immediately hit the boat after her last foot had set off it, effectively sinking it. She stared at the boat for a few minutes, before Gray forcefully pulled her towards the direction he was walking in, cutting out her thoughts. Juvia then realized that Gray was holding her hand, and butterflies started forming in her stomach, and she tightened her grip on Gray's hand. Gray didn't seem to notice this, since the pace in his strides didn't change. _At least something good came out of the ordeal,_ Juvia thought to herself.

Within half an hour the duo had arrived at the island shore, braving the cold weather and the frequent bolts of lightning that hit the ice at particular segments. However, Gray managed to immediately restore the damaged segments, and a light shower had appeared to drench the two completely. They made it successfully however, and to Gray's chagrin, the Chief was not at the shore awaiting their arrival. He realized that the two had to walk until his building, which was strategically placed at the centre of the island. Gray released Juvia's hand (much to her dismay) and the two immediately set off to the Chief, who happened to be the client to the mission.

They did not walk for long however, before Gray heard someone call out his name in the distance. Taken aback, he stopped and tried to look for the direction in which the voice had come from. Juvia, who was also made to stop because of the sudden voice, tried to locate where the sound was coming from. After noticing that it came west from where they were, she told Gray," Gray-sama, over there, "pointing at a running figure of a person. The figure kept on approaching them, and when it was within recognizable distance, Juvia scowled a bit. It was a female demon. Gray almost said, "Lu-"but suddenly he was cut off by a pair of arms wrapping themselves around his neck.

Lulu had hugged Gray so tightly that he almost lost his balance, but managed to regain it after staggering a few steps backwards. Juvia was seething behind him, which Lulu seemed to notice since she just rolled out her tongue at Juvia. "Lulu, it's so great to see you again. I hope you've been okay despite the recent events," Gray greeted her. Placing herself on the ground, she looked up at Gray (who had grown even taller in the short time they were apart) and smiled at him before replying, "It's so good to see you again, Gray," _Who is this woman? Why does she not address Gray-sama with the proper honorifics? _Juvia thought after hearing her call him "Gray"-"I've been good but not so much during the past one week. The girl who was kidnapped was the little sister of my best friend Miya, so she's been devastated over the past one week. I've been doing my best to console her, but to not avail, since her mood hasn't really improved. I'm really glad you could come though, I'm sure you'll rescue her little sister in no time with you partner, " she finished, now casting a look over at Juvia, who seemed to be staring daggers at her.

"OH, I almost forgot to introduce you. Lulu this is Juvia Lockser, she's my comrade and friend at Fairy Tail. Juvia this is Lulu. She's an acquaintance I met here in Galuna and she was very hospitable to me, Natsu and the others on the last night we spent here. And she's a very remarkable dancer," Gray added. The last sentence made Juvia scowl even more. _Hmph. How dare this woman dance with Gray-sama. The nerve_, he thoughts continued to grow more and more disdainful towards the woman, but she didn't say anything, since she didn't want to create a scene in front of Gray. She even reluctantly held out her hand to shake Lulu's already outstretched hand. Lulu's face was in some sort of smile that told Juvia she was enjoying the current situation.

After the brief introduction, Gray spike up again, "Lulu, would you mind taking us to the Chief's building. I have a rough idea where it used to be, but I don't want to make any mistakes and with you here I feel we will definitely get there faster." Lulu beamed at these words, and replied almost immediately, "Yes, of course," before holding Gray by his hand and leading him in the right direction. Juvia shouted," Hey! Don't forget about me here!" and started following the two. Gray, who seemed amused by the sudden gesture, didn't say anything and allowed himself to be led on. Lulu, who was humming a song to herself as she led the way, was elated. Having developed a crush on the handsome man whose hand she held in her own, she yearned for the day when she would meet him again. The heavens had answered her prayers, she thought, since he was now here again. She silently thanked Kami-sama and held on tightly to Gray's hand, which she felt, was big and strong.

However, something extraordinary happened almost immediately, just as the trio had walked a short distance ahead. Juvia and Gray turned their heads towards the sea, and saw, with great amazement, that the sea was completely frozen. Juvia looked at Gray, who indignantly replied, "It wasn't me." Gray then looked around to see if there was anyone else around other than them. There were a few villagers scattered around the beach, each of them carrying out their own activities. Lulu also looked positively scared at this point, she couldn't believe that the village had been locked out of the outside world. Gray and Juvia, of course, could leave anytime they wanted, but the other villagers could not. This was a grave problem. Gray remembered that none of the villagers could use Ice Make Magic like him, so he eliminated the idea of one of the villagers near the sea having frozen the sea to that extent. He himself had dispelled his Ice trail immediately he and Juvia had arrived at the shore, so he was definitely out of the question. Who was it that could perform such a feat, and go undetected by both him and Juvia?

Then suddenly, without warning, a second extraordinary feat occurred. The air around the shore began to crystallize, forming what seemed to be a wall. More and more air crystallized, and immediately Gray let go of Lulu's hand to rush towards the shore, but he was a few steps too late. The wall itself continued to become bigger and stretched out more and more into the sky, until eventually the whole island was encased in a dome of ice. Gray smashed his fist against the end of the shore he had reached, but it was futile. Staring into the depths of the sky, which was blocked out of view by the ice there, a harsh reality dawned upon him and Juvia, who had just appeared next to him to calm him down. The island had been effectively shut out of the outside world, with Gray and Juvia inside it.

_End_

**A/N: **There's chapter 4 guys. I originally decided to include Natsu and Erza in it, but then decided against it since it would kind of ruin the cliffhanger I had concluded with. Plus it was a good chance to show the other couples which I had promised would be in the story that is Gray and Juvia. I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Have a belated Happy Christmas and enjoy! Thanks again for all your continued support;)


	5. Attack of the Myria

**A/N: **Here I am again, after a really exhausting day and holiday in general. My head is aching a little but I will be able to make this chapter enjoyable for all my followers. Natsu and Erza will be back in this chapter, plus Gray and Juvia, so sit back and enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters. They are thesole property of Hiro Mashima.

_ Attack of the Myria_

_ Galuna Island_

"Damn. It." Gray muttered under his breath. He had punched the ice barrier at several spots, for what seemed to be the umpteenth time, but the dome just remained there as it was when it had first appeared. It still stood firm and steady, with no sign of cracking yet. Lowering his fist from the edge of the barrier where he was, he let himself slump to the ground in defeat. His hands were almost exhausted and looking at them closer; he noticed there were pieces of flesh tearing off at the knuckles. "Just what is this ice anyway?" He asked no one in particular. At first he had thought that he may have mistaken the substance surrounding them for diamond, owing to its toughness, but the cold temperature that was within the village begged to differ. Diamond never made substances go cold, it was ice. He closed his eyes as if in slumber, but then heard footsteps approaching him, so his eyes jolted open and he looked to the direction where the footsteps were coming from.

"Oh, it's you Lulu," he spoke to the girl who had know kneeled in front of him, so that their faces were now level. She was carrying a bottle in her hands that held some sort of colorless liquid. "What's that you got there?" he asked, pointing to the bottle she held in her hands. Immediately, however, he returned his hand in the original position on the ground, wincing in pain a little. Without answering his question, Lulu picked up his hand which lay helplessly on his side (earning another wince from Gray), opened the bottle containing the strange liquid and poured it on his reddened knuckles, then proceeded to rub it on the sore area.

Immediately, Gray felt the pain recede in his knuckles, and it was replaced by a warm soothing feeling. "This is a local ointment made from the herbs in the village. It isn't really that effective when it comes to severe wounds, but something like this can be taken care of easily by the ointment," Lulu finally replied to Gray's question earlier. She looked at his face and smiled, earning a smile back, "Thanks for this, Lulu," Gray told her. Lulu immediately blushed and looked at the now almost fully recovered hand more intensely than normal, returning to her earlier role. After she moved to the second palm, Gray looked over his shoulder at his teammate.

Juvia was standing a few feet away; her hands folded across her chest, and seemed to be lost in thought. Too lost in thought, it seemed, since Gray called her three times before she finally caught on. "Yes! Gray-sama?" Gray shrugged a little (causing Juvia to feel hot around the ears), before asking, "Did you figure out something?" Juvia shook her head, before saying, "This doesn't feel like ordinary magic. If it were I think you would have broken through it a while ago using your Ice Magic. Magic at this level may require us to find the caster and defeat him or ask him to undo the spell. I don't think he did this accidentally though." Gray took in every word Juviia said, before adding on," You do have a point. And my guess is that the caster is somewhere on the island, so we have to look for him manually, unless you can sense where he is?" Juvia shook her head again. "He seems to have erased his magic signal. No doubt he did it immediately we set foot in the island. He may have expected us to come."

Gray, whose hands had recovered, stood up and shook the sand off his body. "Thanks again, Lulu," he looked at the girl who also steadied herself upright, but to her dismay, she was shorter when both of them stood upright. "Unfortunately, though, I need another favour from you. " Lulu beamed at these words, eager to be of any service to the man who stood in front of her. "What is it, Gray-sama?" she inquired. Gray proceeded to ask her, "If possible, can you inform me of the place where Deliora crumbled to pieces? That place is kind of sacred to me. It's where my master, Ul's memento is."

Juvia, who had approached Gray, upon seeing him standing upright, immediately knew what Gray was referring to. Although she was not in the guild at the time, she had been told by some of the guild mates about the S-class mission that Gray and his team had gone to do in Galuna, and remembered being informed about how the major antagonist Lyon, was a sibling apprentice of Gray, who also studied under their master Ul. Lyon was trying to revive the demon from Zeref's book, Deliora, which Ul had fought to save the two when they were kids, and being unable to defeat it, opted to seal it away using her body as the medium. Lyonhad successfully manage to unseal the demon, although it crumbled away minutes later, flowing into the sea as water alongside Ul's ice. Even though it seemed like a mundane thing, Gray treasured the place where the demon had melted away as Ul's final resting place, hence referring to it as "Ul's memento."

Lulu replied, "Ahh, that place is just in the mountains over there." She pointed at an icy summit that stood far away above the trees, and Gray nodded. He thanked her again and promised to see her when he got back from his visit there. She waved him goodbye cheerfully as he set off for the mountains, beckoning for Juvia to follow him. Once they were out of Lulu's hearing range, Juvia broke the silence, "Um, Gray-sama? I understand your desire to see your master's last memento but what about the job we came here to do? Plus the fact that we are trapped in this island with no means of escape." She expected Gray to scold her for this, but to her surprise, he turned to face her, still grinning."Ah, I had a feeling you would say that. But it's really not something to fret over." Raising an eyebrow, Juvia was about to ask why, but Gray continued, "You see, I have a feeling that whoever did this to the island may be the person who has abducted the girl we are looking for in this job. So we can use this chance as we are heading to the mountains to look for the one responsible. Plus I have a feeling if we stayed there with Lulu the assailant may have attacked us there, and I didn't want to put Lulu or the villagers in danger. You get where I'm coming from, right?"

Clearly amazed by how Gray had thought things through, Juvia could not help but smile at him. He really was amazing. "Yes, Gray-sama!" She replied almost instantaneously, but soon realized how fast she had said this, causing her to turn red in embarrassment. Gray did not seem to realize this, however, as he had resumed walking in front of Juvia at an unnaturally faster pace than he was walking at earlier.

Juvia was puzzled, and made to follow Gray, but he immediately held up his hand, stopping in his tracks. Juvia also stopped in her tracks, and waited for some sort of signal so as to know what to proceed to next. Gray pointed towards the forest in the east side of the village, and looked to see if Juvia had understood what he was trying to tell her. Surely enough she had, since she had began to head in that direction. Satisfied with his decision, Gray marched on towards the mountain, intent on heading to his master's memento while looking for the assailant. Juvia headed to the forest to search for the assailant there. The words had gone unspoken between the two, but from the moment they had been shut in the island, they knew this was inevitable. They had to split up in order to look for the culprit, in the efforts of rescuing the kidnapped girl and freeing themselves from the "prison" in which they had been trapped. Silently praying for each other's safety, they marched off to their respective destinations.

As Gray neared the mountain with each step, he immediately plunged himself into a sea of thought. _But something doesn't feel right here. What kind of an enemy are we facing anyway? Making all that ice in itself is an amazing deed, but managing to escape detection by Juvia is indeed extraordinary. She was one of the Element Four, so I'm sure her sensory skills must be extraordinary_. _And that ice itself. How is it unbreakable? This is honestly making no sense, but I have a feeling the foe we are facing may be exceptionally strong._ The thoughts ran through his mind endlessly, all coming to no fruitful answer or conclusion. However, his thoughts suddenly froze, as a result of the silhouette that rapidly approached him from a distance away.

Juvia, on the other hand, already had her share of bad luck come early to her. She was in the middle of the forest, and had also frozen in her tracks, also a result of what lay in front of her. It was the man she loved and doted over, in the flesh and shirtless. That black hair, those dark eyes, that muscular frame. There was no mistaking it.

" Gray-sama?" she feebly called out to the man standing in front of her. However, "Gray" simply placed his hands together, in a stance Juvia knew all too well was an offensive stance, and readied his attack. Juvia was utterly shocked, and she had no time to dodge, feeling the familiar coldness enveloping her body.

"Ul?" Gray called out to the silhouette, which had now reached where he was standing. There was no mistaking it. It was his deceased master, standing in the flesh in front of him. The familiar onyx eyes and hair were strikingly similar to his master, and he had an immediate desire to rush to her and embrace her, with all sorts of things to tell her. "Ul" however, did not feel the same way, evident in the way she held out her arms in front of her in the stance Gray recognized as the way she taught him to mould ice. Her mouth broke out into a sinister grain, and suddenly a huge wave of ice made its way to where he was standing.

_The Woods outside Magnolia_

"I'm beat." Natsu Dragneel was walking at a considerably slower pace than the pace he had as he entered the woods. His tongue was hanging loosely outside his mouth, in a plea for water, and sweat dripped across his whole face. He was clearly hungry and thirsty as well, and to top that he was exhausted, owing to the fact that he had seemed to walk endlessly.

"That's the fourth time you've said that today." A scarlet haired woman said from in front of him. Natsu looked up at the form of his partner, Erza Scarlet, who unlike him was standing upright, and looked just as she had when they had entered the woods. In contrast to him, she did not have any sweat dripping down her visage, and did not seem to be the least hungry or thirsty.

"How…come…you're still…kicking and fresh?" Natsu asked her, between huge breaths of air. True enough he was a Dragon Slayer, and his lungs were indeed larger than those of ordinary mages, but he had reached his limit. Erza shook her head and simply replied, "You know, I've been to places much farther than this on my S-class missions, so a distance as short as this is like child's play to me. I can still go a few more hundred miles you know," she concluded, with a small smile at Natsu. Natsu smiled feebly at her, but felt the strength drain from his legs, so he slumped to the ground and began panting. "You must be really amazing then Erza, I can't even imagine what being an S-class is like now. Are all your jobs that taxing?" He threw a glance at her.

Erza, who realized that Natsu was probably too tired to move, proceeded to settle into the grass that was just below her feet. "Yeah, they are pretty much this difficult. That's why master always encourages us to build our stamina if we want to partake such jobs." However, what really made her happy, was the compliment that Natsu threw her earlier, about her being "amazing." For some odd reason, it made her heart flutter, and she thought of mumbling a thank you to Natsu, but the words seemed to be stuck in her throat.

Natsu continued looking at Erza from the position he was on the ground, and realized that she was still in her Heart Kruz Armor, but had not even broken a sweat yet. Perplexed as to why she would still even have her armor in this scorching weather, he asked her why she was always dressed like that. Erza was caught by surprise at this sudden inquiry, and remembered only a few months ago that during the pink-head's fight with Jellal, he told her that he did not know anything about her.

She replied," When I was young, I was held captive as a slave. That was where I met Jellal, Sho, Simon, Miriana and Jellal. One day we tried to escape but we were unsuccessful. A guard used some magic and tried to eliminate me, on realizing that I was the leader of the riot. However, an old man whom I grew fond of came in the way of the attack and died saving me." Natsu noticed that tears were slowly welling up in Erza's eyes. He suggested that it was okay if she didn't want to talk about it, but she shook her head, a sign indicating that she wanted to talk more about the matter.

"I was then captured and kept in a secret room. My right eye was removed as a punishment. Jellal came to save me and as he was saving me, Simon and Sho were taking watch outside. The rescue was successful. This time we tried escaping again, although we were caught. Jellal sacrificed himself and admitted that he was the one who planned the escape. He was kept in the same room as me. That was when Zeref brainwashed him."

Natsu looked at Erza and he felt sad. He still had the memory of Erza's tears freshly ingrained in his mind the day she met Jellal again. And here she was crying again. Out of instinct (and something else which he did not know was), he picked himself off the ground (most of his fatigue having receded) and approached the tear-stricken Erza. He slowly wrapped his arms around her and held her in a tight hug, making sure not to crush her under his weight.

Erza, who still had tears in her eyes, was quite surprised at this sudden display of affection. She had never imagined Natsu holding her like that. After a few minutes of nothing but silence between the two, Natsu spoke in her ear (unknowingly sending chills of excitement down Erza's spine), "And I always thought my childhood was shitty." Erza giggled a bit at this statement, and Natsu continued, "Look, Erza, I don't know how painful it was, but I can tell you this. That's all in your past now. You should look towards the future. After all, you have friends now. Lucy, Gray, Elfman, Mira… even me. We'll always be with you. So, promise me, you'll never shed a tear about this again, okay? You're the strongest person I've ever met. If you start to soften up now, what do you think I will do? Okay?" he concluded in a heart tone, now flashing his famous grin at her.

Natsu then released her. Erza had stopped crying. She smiled and then replied, in a much happier tone, "Okay." However, suddenly noticing how the atmosphere had suddenly dimmed around them, they decided to make camp around there for the night. Luckily enough, there was a stream nearby so it would be an ideal place for them to set up camp.

_ End_

**A/N:** Well, that escalated well I'm happy that the scene with Natsu and Erza went well as I had planned it in my head, so I hope you guys will like it too. Read, enjoy and make sure to review at the end!


	6. Temptations

**A/N: **Here is Chapter 6 of "The Dragon Slayer and the Knightess." In this chapter I'll introduce two familiar faces that you are all aware of. Natsu and Erza will also make an appearance here, actually they will be more of the focus in this chapter, and the events from the previous evening are still fresh in Erza's mind. How will she react to Natsu with it being a new day and him being the airhead he always was? Read more to find out ;)

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters. They are the sole property of Hiro Mashima.

_Temptations_

Erza's eyes shot open to find the back of her partner facing her facing her. She was a bit startled to be greeted by such a sight in the morning, but she registered that he must have chosen to fall asleep next to her. She couldn't think of a logical reason why, since if it was a simple matter of body heat he wasn't really in a pinch, given the fact he was a Fire Dragon Slayer. The events of the previous night slowly resurfaced in Erza's mind, and her cheeks turned a faint shade of scarlet. It matched perfectly with the color of her hair, so anyone who saw her at that moment would think she had decided to put on makeup matching the color of her hair. Natsu would probably tell her that there was something red on her cheeks, being the airhead he was. She actually let out a small laugh at that thought.

The pink-headed make in question was still asleep, and he slowly turned in his sleep to come face to face with the blushing queen next to him. His face was mere inches away from hers, and his eyes were still closed. Erza was taken by surprise at this gesture, since she didn't expect to be so close to him. Looking at the young man's sleeping form; she couldn't help but marvel at how cute he looked. Like a baby, he slept so peacefully. His hair was matted out at the ends and Erza felt a sudden desire to feel his hair in his hands. Sure they had been in similar situations when they were kids, alongside Gray, but Erza didn't really take the time to study Natsu's features like this. She was too absorbed in the fun of playing with her friends that she was even a bit angry at herself. How could she miss his extremely gorgeous looks, being with him in the same guild every day?

Her eyes slowly travelled down his face, calmly taking in his angelic face, when she landed upon it. His mouth was slightly closed, his lips parted slightly. He did not make any sounds, which Erza was grateful for. She had heard the stories from Mira about how Elfman would snore in his sleep, and how Lisanna would always complain about lacking sleep in the morning, so she could almost sympathize with how the girl was feeling at the moment. He also didn't seem to be mumbling any words in his sleep, so Erza also gave him a pass for not being a sleeptalker. Staring at his mouth for a few seconds longer, she immediately wondered what it would be like to taste his lips.

At this thought Erza's whole face turned a deep shade of red, and she actually had to turn the other way to cut off her stream of thoughts. She cupped her face in her hands so that no one would catch sight of her. _What did I just think? I just thought of k-k-kis- _Her mind could not complete the forbidden word. Having such thoughts about her longtime friend and teammate was not allowed. Erza tried to shake the thoughts out of her head, which proved a few minutes later, to be a pointless effort. Slowly, her head slowly turned in the direction where her heart's desire lay, and she caught herself staring at Natsu's mouth, wondering what taste she would savor if she made an attempt to move closer.

The scarlet haired woman then started moving closer to Natsu, her lips inching to his closer and closer with every second. She wagered on the fact that he was still asleep, and that he probably wouldn't wake from something like this. My God, he was too damn sexy. _Wait. Did I just say sexy? _Erza's thoughts momentarily terrified her but did not assist any way in ceasing her movement. _I'd better stop talking to Lucy about stuff like this. _She made a mental note to no longer talk to Lucy about what the blonde deemed as "girl talk" when she returned from her job. She could now feel the boy's warm breath on her lips. Closing her eyes, she widened her lips a little….

"E-E-Erza?" A voice stirred in her ears. She quickly retreated her body away from his in a speed that even the leaves that had surrounded them moved slightly into the air. The boy was stirring a little, his eyes still partially closed. Meanwhile, a few feet away from him Erza had covered her face, which had turned red in shock and embarrassment. He had almost caught her in the act of kissing him in his sleeping form. Surely no one would appreciate it if anyone tried doing anything to them when they were sleeping, would they? Furthermore, she was dead sure that if Natsu had caught her in the act she would probably not be able to talk to him with the same ease that they had grown so used to. She was so convinced that he would definitely keep her at an arm's length if he found out.

"Erza, what are you doing? Why are you so far away?" Natsu inquired. He was now fully awake, in a sitting posture. Looking at Erza in a way that showed more of confusion rather than anger, Erza turned to meet his gaze. There were still bags under his eyes, and Erza couldn't blame him. They had slept for a really long time, having done so from the dusk of the previous day, and the sun was creeping up slowly from the east. Erza realized that the day had just started, and she was partially glad that they had not rested for too long. "Nothing. I just had a really scary dream, is all. It startled me so much that I nearly jumped out of my skin," Erza explained, hoping that the man would believe her completely-made-up-on-the-spot lie.

"Hmm, well I guess I can understand what you went through." Erza was so grateful that Natsu was a complete idiot in situations like this. "Still, I hope it wasn't too bad of a dream. Are you feeling better this morning?" He inquired. He could be such a darling sometimes, she thought. She smiled a little and nodded her head. "Yeah, I'm feeling great, Natsu. Thanks a lot for yesterday. It really helped." She replied in a jovial tone, feeling the red coloring on her cheeks disappearing with every word. He didn't need to see that at the moment, she reassured herself.

Natsu beamed at her, shooting her his famous grin that she had come to love so much over the long time she had known him, then he immediately got up from the ground. Erza was taken aback, and for one crazy second she thought that he was going to walk towards her to confirm is she was okay. She was relieved that he headed in the opposite way towards the woods. "I'm going to look for wood. We need to get something to eat, since I'm feeling a bit hungry and we haven't really eaten anything ever since we came from the city. Why don't you look in the stream if there are any fish that we can roast? I think that will hold our stomachs for a while on our journey," he suggested to Erza. Erza chuckled a little, and Natsu was a bit puzzled at this. He stopped momentarily in his tracks and looked at Erza a little. "You know it would save you the trouble of looking for wood if you would just use your fire to heat up the fish. Or it's too much trouble?" She calmly explained her thoughts to Natsu. Natsu replied, "I also thought about that, but I think it would use quite a bit of my magic. I want us to be at 100% when we meet the enemy, so I don't want me or you to use our magic for any other activities along the way. Besides," he was now smiling a little at her, "it gives me a chance to show off my cooking to you."

Erza did not have a chance to ask what he meant by this, since Natsu had darted farther into the woods. _Natsu can cook? _The sudden revelation was a bit too surprising for her to hear that morning. As far as she was concerned, he had never really shown any interest in cooking since he always ate from the guild hall or from Lucy's house. Her curiosity getting the better of her, she quickly rushed to the surface of the stream that was next to her, wishing that there were fish present there. She could not miss a chance to eat Natsu's cooking, knowing full well that if she was not successful they would have to eat berries or some of the fruits in the trees.

To her delight, there were a lot of fish swimming upstream and she wasted no time in lunging at them with her hands. She wavered between using her hands and swords for a moment, and remembering Natsu's earlier words, decided that using her hands would be better. She wasn't called an S-class wizard for nothing, her swift movement with her hands ensured that within a span of five minutes, she had successfully ensnared a dozen fish. Feeling pleased with herself, she made her way out of the stream and moved a distance away from the shore. Placing the fish on the ground, she felt her stomach rumbling a little and was actually glad that Natsu was nowhere nearby to hear that. She was getting hungrier and wished Natsu would get there faster.

After a few seconds however, she saw the familiar silhouette coming out of the woods, his pink hair moving softly on his head in the direction that the breeze was moving in. He was carrying a lot of wood, and Erza realized that he must have probably been unable to control himself and wrecked a certain area of the forest in search for wood. She sweat dropped a little at what the Mayor would say when he found out that Fairy Tail had destroyed part of Magnolia's nature. When he came within her eyes seeing distance, she noticed that he was shirtless and that beads of sweat had formed on his torso. His shirt was wrapped around his waist and the wood lay on his shoulders. Erza couldn't help but marvel at how his body was so well built, and couldn't help but stare at it in the time it took before he had reached where she was. She now had an idea about why Manami couldn't help but stare at Natsu's well-endowed body.

He almost always wore his shirt everywhere, so Erza only managed to catch glimpses of his six-pack at certain times. Now here he was, in all his glory, exposing his upper half of his body to her (unintentionally though), and she immediately wondered what it would be like to run her hands through the surface. Erza Scarlet turned a deep shade of scarlet for what was the umpteenth time of the day. She quickly managed to hide the blush by the time Natsu had reached where she was. Natsu sat on the ground next to her, oblivious of the troubled female that was next to him. He wasted no time in starting a fire, and a few minutes later, the two were savoring their first meal of the day. To both their delight, the fish turned out to be quite mouth-watering.

Natsu was on his fourth fish, when Erza spoke to him, currently on her third fish herself, "When did you learn to prepare such meals? I always took you to be the kind that always ate from the city, not in the wilds like we are now." Natsu took a bite out of the creature in his hands, swallowed then explained to Erza, "When I was with Igneel, he taught me all sorts of things. Cooking, language and even words. We used to live in a forested area, I can't really remember where it was, but in that forest there were quite a number of animals. For our meals Igneel would go into the forest and hunt some of the animals, and then he would come home and make me cook the animals he captured. It took a while but I learned how to roast wild game, and he told me that it wasn't really any different with fish. The trick was to apply the right amount of heat to avoid the animals from getting burnt, and retain the original flavor." Erza listened to Natsu with an odd keenness. She honestly did not take him to be the kind who did such activities, but then again, he lived in the wild so the circumstances allowed it.

"I don't really know how to cook normal food. Lisanna tried teaching me once when I was little, but I couldn't really get the hang of it, so I just decided not to bother with it anymore, "he added on. Erza then spoke up, "Well, I could teach you how to cook. I mean, if you're interested that is." Natsu nearly choked on the piece of fish that was in his mouth. He looked at Erza wide-eyed, a look which caused Erza to almost collapse to the floor laughing. _Honestly, he's too cute. _She thought to herself. Natsu blubbered a little, before finally making out the words, "You can cook? You? Erza?! How?!" He couldn't help but ask. Erza knew that he was speaking from experience, since as far as she remembered; she had never been caught cooking in the guild hall. At Fairy Hills, their meals were also prepared for them by their caretaker, so there was no need for her to prepare her meals herself there. "You know Natsu I'd wish you started to look at me as more of a woman. When I was young and I was here at the guild as a newbie, I stayed with Poryulsica-san a little while my eye was recovering. She taught me a few things, and she said that I was a good student, since I managed to grasp everything she taught me. I learnt cooking from her, but too bad I haven't really had much chance to do it on my own. I still remember everything about it though," she concluded with an air of pride in her voice.

Natsu Dragneel stared at Erza with a certain awe in his look. He certainly had not expected that Erza had knowledge of what normal girls would have. Then again, she was normal for a while so it was a given that she had adopted these skills. Slowly, the image he had in his head of Erza being a strong, armored warrior was breaking down, and it was being replaced by the image of a normal girl in an apron, at a kitchen somewhere in Magnolia and humming to herself as she turned the contents in her cooker. He smiled a little at the thought of how beautiful the sight was a smile that did not go unnoticed by Erza. She smiled to herself and was a bit happy that she was gaining favor in the eyes of her loved one. _Loved one?_

She did not have time to think about what had just transpired through her head, as Natsu got up from the ground in haste. He removed the shirt that lay on his waist, and wore it (much to Erza's dismay). Throwing back a look at Erza, he smiled gently at her before replying, "Sure, why not? You may turn out to be a better teacher than Lisanna was. But on one condition." Erza looked at him tentatively before asking him, although she had an idea about what the condition was. "Which is?" she slowly asked. "I refuse to call you master, sensei, shishou, or any of that crap," Natsu answered, smirking at her.

"Damn it. You're such a spoilsport," she remarked.

"That's part of the reason you like me so much," he shot back at her, throwing her another smirk.

He did not notice the faint blush that adorned Erza Scarlet's cheeks that fair morning.

After the two had cleared out their camping area, they set off farther into the woods, the air around them having a certain brightness to it.

_Apocrypha_

Lucy HeartFilia and Levy McGarden had just alighted from the train that led to Apocrypha from Magnolia. The trip took 3 hours, and since the two of them had a lot of time in the train to rest. Once they had hit the ground, they both stretched a bit to eliminate the residual fatigue in their bodies, before walking onwards.

Lucy had decided to come to Apocrypha to see her dad, and since Levy had failed to secure a job with her team, she decided to accompany her best friend. As they walked Levy narrated to Lucy the story of how Natsu had managed to land himself a job with Erza and the two had left a few hours before Lucy had set foot into the guild building that day. An amused Lucy listened to Levy's story, wondering what on earth possessed Erza to decide to go on a mission with Natsu that day.

"Thanks a lot Lu-chan! I would have died of boredom in the guild today and Jet and Droy weren't really much fun to be around today. I wonder what kind of person your dad is though," Levy cheerfully exclaimed as they went up the hill that led to Lucy's house on the other side.

Lucy shrugs a little before saying, "No problem, Levy-chan. And my dad isn't really someone to be amazed at. He's kind of a jerk to his one and only daughter, so he might be a jerk to you too." At this both girls chuckle and proceed to walk faster towards the old man's house.

However, the two girls suddenly saw that there was something that was standing ahead of them on the road. Both of them were a bit surprised, the area they were on was currently deserted and Lucy was aware that this part of the town had very few residents. The pace in their strides lessened considerably as they walked cautiously towards the strange new being.

Once they had gone a bit closer to it, they noticed that it was clad in a cloak. They couldn't make out its appearance since the cloak covered it fully, even casting a shadow on its face. Deciding to walk past the strange being, Lucy and Levy proceeded faster towards their destination, deciding that it would be best to leave the being undisturbed.

However, they had only walked a few more steps when they noticed that the strange being was standing in front of them again. Levy was shocked and she looked behind to see if it was the same one, hoping that her eyes weren't playing tricks on her. To her shock, there was nothing behind her and Lu-chan, so they came to one conclusion. The being did not want them to go on farther.

They stood rooted to the ground for a few minutes, both of them wondering what to do. The person in front of them did not look as if he was about to attack them, so Lucy decided to take the initiative and immediately thrust her hand into her pocket to draw out her keys. However, before she could make a movement, there was a reaction from the being in front of her.

The cloak that it was clad in dropped to the ground, to reveal something very puzzling to the two girls. It was a creature that was neither a baboon nor a Vulcan. It looked oddly enough like a combination between the two species actually. With the familiar gargantuan arms, and sequentially, large hands that were attached to its muscular torso, it had a head that was covered in fur and small sunken eyes, and an elongated chin and prolonged ears.

Next to her, Lucy saw Levy's face whiten. Worried about her friend, she looked at her with concerned eyes. "What's wrong Levy?" Levy pointed feebly at the creature that was in front of them. "Lu-chan…but..That's a….. Myria."

_End_

**A/N: **Well, that certainly went quite well. Although it ended a bit prematurely, I wanted to keep the suspense around our main antagonists to a later chapter in the future. Either way, I hope this chapter will gain favor in your eyes as the previous ones have. Thank you so much for all the reviews, follows and favorites. You guys are amazing.


	7. Revelation

**A/N: **Hello guys and welcome to yet another chapter of "The Dragon Slayer and the Knightess." Really, before I start this chapter, I'd like to thank you for all the follows, favorites and follows so far. You guys are really amazing and thank you for all your support so far. I promise to make this story more and more fulfilling for you guys, so I ask that you continue being loyal to it and follow it through till the end. Well, here we go then!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters. They belong to Hiro Mashima.

_The Enemy, Revealed_

"Myria? What's a Myria, Levy-chan?" Lucy asked her friend, who was still pointing at the creature in front of them feebly. Truthfully, Lucy had never seen her best friend this scared ever in her life. Even if they had only known each other for a short amount of time, Lucy felt that Levy was like the sister she never had. She had always wondered what it was like to have a sister, even pestering her mother at one point about why she didn't have a sister. In return, Layla HeartFilia had bought her a small female doll and told Lucy that now she had a sister. Completely elated by the event, Lucy named the doll "Michelle", and spent every minute of the day with it. She never let go of it, and her parents were consequently happy that their daughter was happy.

However, she grew up and soon realized that it was just a lifeless doll which she called her sister. She wasn't really angry at her mom or anything, she had heard stories of parents who bought their babies dolls or mannequins to keep them company as their "siblings", simply to avoid the awkward question about why they didn't have any siblings themselves. She put the doll with the rest of her clothes and stuff which he didn't use anymore in her closet, since she felt that throwing it away would be a terrible thing to do to her mother, who bought the present with love. She then went back to spending time with her mom and dad, and joked about how she wishes she had a sister. This time, however, her mother patted her on the head and told her that she would be getting one soon. The tone of her mother's voice told her that she was not pulling her leg this time, so Lucy beamed up at her mom and nodded fervently, waiting, expecting her mom to fulfill her promise to her.

However, the promise was not fulfilled. Her mother died a few weeks later, due to a mysterious disease. She fell sick a week prior, and Lucy prayed that it was not a serious condition. She watched doctors visiting her mom every day, a new one each time, and realized that her dad was probably pouring every drop of his sweat into ensuring that his wife received the best medical care in the world. Lucy was moved by her dad's efforts, and then reassured herself that everything would be okay. After all, her mother always told her that they would always be together, and that nothing would ever separate her from her family. Lucy always held her mother to her promises, so she was confident that she would definitely pull through this time. To boot, her mother was also a brilliant wizard, and Lucy had never heard stories about wizards falling prey to disease. Holding these two factors in place, she wished her mother a quick recovery and hoped for the best. Her prayers were all in vain, since her mother simply collapsed one morning, breathing her last and exiting the world.

Devastated was the least of words that described Lucy after the tragedy. The death caught her by shock, and she could not believe the news when she first heard it. Immediately, she rushed to her room, closed the door behind her and plunged her head into her pillow. The tears were already streaming down her face and she knew that she was moments away from breaking down completely. Not wanting her wails and cries to reverberate throughout the house, she cried so hard into her pillow, and cried, and cried. She did not know how long it was that she had cried, but by the time she had released her head from the soft, fluffy surface of her pillow, she looked outside and saw that the sun was already setting beyond the horizon. She heard the knocking of someone on her door, then a voice asking her," Lucy-sama, dinner is ready. Would you like to have some in the dining room with your father?" Lucy realized that it was one of the female servants of the house, and immediately realized that she did not have any appetite. "No," she replied, and realized how hoarse her voice had been. It was probably due to all the crying, she told herself, and once she felt the footsteps of the servant drawing away from her door, she plunged her face into her pillow and slept the rest of the evening off.

Her dad drowned himself in his work shortly after, and Lucy then realized that it was his method of coping with the sudden loss of his wife. She could not blame him, since she had a feeling that he would simply weep if he didn't keep himself busy. Lucy then decided to take her time learning more about her mother's celestial spirit magic, and luckily enough her mother had three golden keys which she could practice with. She became quite decent at handling each of the spirits, and after a short while, she decided that she wanted to join a Wizarding guild. She had heard rumors about Fairy Tail from her fellow townsfolk, and did her research accordingly. What she found out made her a bit startled, and the guild in question seemed to have a reputation of leaving a wake of destruction on any job it went on. This amused Lucy, and her determination to join the guild increased. Her encounter with Natsu proved to be her stroke of luck, and she became a fully fledged member of Fairy Tail. She had just made the best decision of her life, soon she came to realize.

Fairy Tail was so full of life and happiness, and as with all the members there, Lucy soon found herself absorbed into their daily antics. It was there that she met Levy McGarden, and the two of them formed a friendship which made Lucy have the sister she never had. She was so happy to have met such a wonderful person, and she spent most of her time away from jobs with her best friend. Most of the stories between them were about their lives, as well as the jobs they went on with their teams. Levy told her about how Jet and Droy would always protect her on missions, so she never had much chance to do anything since the two of the guys always took the frontlines. Thus unnerved her a little, as she rarely had a chance to practice her **Solid Script** Magic. Lucy sympathized with her on this front, telling her that her teammates were simply worried about her wellbeing so their behavior was understandable. However, not once had Levy told Lucy about how she had been afraid in the middle of her jobs.

Now here she was, fear reflected in her eyes. An expression that Lucy had never seen before. Shifting her eyes to the stranger that was in front of them, Lucy noticed that it was still staying in its position. It made no attempt to move towards them or to retreat. Instead, it's gave was fixated upon Lucy, and it seemed as if it was staring into her very soul. Taking this as a sign that they were safe, at least for the time being, she looked at Levy and waited for her to regain her composure before she explained to Lucy what exactly it was that had scared her out of her wits this much. Luckily, Levy also seemed to notice the same thing that Lucy had noticed, which was the fact that the creature didn't seem to be intent on attacking the two of them for the time being. Slowly, she steadied her breath and lowered her finger, while shifting her gaze to her best friend.

"Lu-chan, Myria are a species of magical creatures that are recorded in ancient magical scrolls and literature. Honestly, I thought they were all but mythical. So having one appears before us so suddenly really caught me by surprise, so I had to be sure I wasn't just making a mistake with a normal Vulcan. But that shape is of no ordinary Vulcan. Myria are a species of baboon-like creatures. They have extremely fighting capabilities. They fight by taking on the form of a person that was dearest to you when they were still alive," Levy explained, before Lucy intervened abruptly. "Wait, Levy-chan. You said, while they were still alive? Meaning the person whose form they take is currently dead, right? So how do they manage to take the form of a person who's already dead?" Levy had honestly expected this question from Lucy, since it didn't make any sense how they managed to do that. However, their description held an account for this.

"Well, technically it's not just dead people. They can also take the form of a person who's on death's bed, such as a terminally sick patient who is in experiencing his last hours of life. For a mage, I say that even one who is almost being killed in battle and who has been critically injured in battle is almost being killed by their opponent falls into the category. Simply put, they have the ability to see into a person's mind and soul and see the person that means the most to you (or meant the most to you, which is if they are no longer living). It is difficult for people to get over death of their loved ones, as you know. So by taking advantage of this, they use Transformation Magic and change their form to the one of the person you love. However, it isn't a skill as simple as a normal transformation. The trick is once they do this, they possess all the fighting skills, memories and thoughts that were possessed by the original person. And now that is what makes them tricky opponents, since they also wage a form of psychological warfare on the victim. You do realize how difficult it would be to fight someone you once loved, right, Lu-chan?" Lucy took in every word that Levy was telling her, and managed to nod to affirm that she understood every word of it. Levy then said, "But they are naturally slow creatures at first, since they have to read their minds of their opponents, which can provide an opening to attack them. So, I think that what it was doing earlier was studying the memories of both of us, that's why it didn't attack us from the get go. Naturally, in their original forms, they don't possess much fighting capabilities, except for their naturally fast reflexes, but naturally they are physically weak. I think that's the primary reason why they take on new forms in battle."

Lucy understood each and every word that Levy said, then was about to draw out her keys from her bag. If it was as true what Levy had just explained, then she realized that it was probably best for her to take out the enemy instantly. She had one person who she dreamt about every night, and the fact that she had died quite a long time ago still didn't change the fact that she had loved her dearly while she was still alive. She slept in her lap daily, and was read to bedtime stories by her every night before she slept. Even if Levy and her team (Natsu, Gray and Erza) had provided comfort and company for her, she still found herself crying silently at night sometimes and missing her deceased mother. There was no way she could let her mother's memory be destroyed by such a sick magic. It was too late for that, she realized.

"Well, well, someone's certainly done their homework," the Myria before them suddenly spoke up. Its voice was a bit stern and serious, a fact which sent chills down both girls back. Immediately, Levy made to make a sign with her hands, before it spoke again, "That certainly does make my work easier. I must thank you, Levy McGarden. You saved me the trouble of explaining myself as to what I was about to do next. So I'll simply state why I appeared here before you too this moment. Lucy HeartFilia, I'll need you to come with me." This made Levy immediately shout, **Solid Script; Heat Spell, **and immediately fire appeared from the air in front of her and went directly for the Myria before them. Lucy's hand froze on her back, as she caught whiff of what the Myria had said before Levy's attack on it. _Why her? _She wondered in her mind, but there was no time to get an answer, as what appeared when the smoke cleared clouded her thoughts, making her unable to say anything.

The smoke from Levy's attack, which missed and hit the ground at the feet of the enemy. She had missed narrowly, due to the fact that what the enemy had said had unnerved her and set her heart ablaze with fear. Her best friend was the target, and for whatever reason she did not know. However, she would not let Lucy be in danger. She decided that she would protect her, but this was crushed momentarily by what appeared before her after the smoke cleared.

Hair as blonde as Lucy's, eyes as dark as hers and a face that was strikingly similar to Lucy's adorned the new body that appeared before them. Lucy's mouth opened wide in horror, and Levy immediately realized who the new person was. The resemblance really was strikingly similar, so it left room for only one person in mind. Yes. It was Lucy's mother, Layla HeartFilia.

_Galuna Island_

Juvia felt the coldness that was slowly covering her body stop suddenly, and she wondered why. She was already shocked enough by the fact that "Gray" had appeared before her when she had split up with him moments earlier, so him being in front of her already was a fact that was too surprising. Then he began freezing her body, but Juvia wanted to believe that he had a good reason for doing this. After all, she had trusted the man she loved completely, and not once had he ever proved her decision of trusting him wrong.

Opening her eyes slowly, she received the second shock of her life that night. In front of her, there were two Grays that were locked arm-in-arm with each other in combat. She rubbed her eyes to ensure that she was not dreaming, but the sight before her did not change in the least bit. There were two bona fide Grays in front of her, and they really did not seem to be holding hands for the sake of bromance. Immediately, the Gray that was on her left side kicked its counterpart on the torso. It reeled over in pain, and the assaulter took the chance to take a step back before clasping his hands together and saying, **"Ice Make; Sickle." **Immediately, the shape of a sickle appeared from its hands and shot forward to the one writhing on the ground, effectively hitting it square on its head.

Juvia let out a scream, but her hands moved up to cover her mouth when she saw the "Gray" on the ground turn into an ice sculpture then break into blocks of ice. She was a bit confused at what had transpired before her, but suddenly memory kicked in and she remembered seeing such a sight before. It was the time when they had been attacked by Erza's former comrade, Simon, when they were on a beach relaxing. He had used a spell of **Darkness Magic **in his assault of both Gray and Juvia, and luckily enough due to Gray's quick thinking, he had managed to make an ice double to replace with his original body, while he hid in Juvia's body. The double took the brunt of the attack and shattered once the spell was released, effectively fooling the enemy.

She then realized that Gray had probably created a double to go after her once the duo had split up. He was probably worried about Juvia and did not want her to barge into unknown territory unguarded, so he sent a clone after her to watch over her. She felt a surge of affection for her beloved rise in her heart, and felt herself falling deeper in love with him. However, her moment of bliss was cut short, as she realized that the Gray that now stood before her, the one which had attempted to freeze her, wasn't the real Gray. It was an impostor.

Rage welled up in her, as she realized that she was angry at whoever had taken up Gray's form. _How dare you? _Immediately, she made a motion to lunge forward and send an attack at her enemy. "Hmph, well what do you know, you can fight after all. And here I thought you were going to be a thorn in my side in this entire mission," "Gray suddenly spoke up. Juvia halted in her attack. It was the same voice as the one of the Ice Make wizard. Wondering how on earth the fake was able to even replicate his voice, what really caught her attention was what it had said earlier. No one aside from her, Gray and her guild mates had known that she was accompanying Gray on this mission. Heck, even the villagers did not have any idea of who would come, since the client never really requested any specific person for a job once the request was made in the guild. _So how was it that this enemy had known that fact?_

Then it occurred to her. For one mad second, she thought that the Gray standing before her was the real one. However, that didn't add up. She certainly knew about Gray's ability to make ice clones, but that did not mean that he was the only Ice- Make wizard with that ability. There was the chance that the enemy had performed this stunt to set her off her pace, by sending a double to attack her and having the real Gray come to attack her. There really was no way of distinguishing the two, since they were similar right down to every last hair on their head. Her doubts began to increase, and the enemy spoke up again, using the same voice as before, the voice that belonged to the man she loved so dearly.

"You know, there's one thing I've always wanted to tell you Juvia. Ever since I met you actually and since you joined our guild." Juvia felt her heartbeat increase, and she perked up her ears to hear more. _A confession? _No, it couldn't be, she told herself. The timing just wasn't right. But he did say "always", and Juvia knew that this was the word that was used when someone wanted to admit feelings of love, or rarely hatred, towards a second party. Her heartbeat increased faster, and her cheeks had already started turning red. _Was it really going to happen?_ Happiness had began welling up in her, and she was already preparing to jump into the arms of Gray after he admitted his feelings for her. Nothing would have prepared her for what was coming next.

"I've always **HATED **your guts, you know." Her blood froze in her veins. He continued," Every single day, you keep on pestering and pestering me, always asking me to notice you or give you my time of the day. And to be honest, it sickens me to no end. I try to stay away from you as much as possible to give you a hint of how I've felt, but you always, always insist on being with me. So I decided that this mission I would be frank with you completely. Juvia Lockser, I hate you and I wish you would stop bothering me and get a life." He concluded. Juvia's whole world came crashing down around her. _**How? **_She wondered about whether or not he was pulling her leg, but the stern glare he threw at her told her all she needed to know. He was not joking. He had meant every word of what he had just said to her.]

Tears began welling up in Juvia's eyes. The memories about the times she had spent with Gray in the guild came rushing to her, and she did notice that he did try as much as possible to keep his distance from her. She attuned this to him being shy, but the truth is somewhere deep in her heart, she knew that he was probably not impressed with her antics and her methods of trying to win him over. The words still reverberated in her head," Hate your guts." She felt her knees give way and she collapsed to the cold, hard ground. The truth had hit her like a brick to her face. Gray Fullbuster had just rejected her.

She put her face in her hands, and began to weep. The tears felt hot as they landed in her hands, and more and more began welling up in her eyes. She was hurt deeply, and there it was that she understood it. How deeply it hurt to love someone. She cried and sobbed uncontrollably, and did not feel the ice that was slowly enveloping her body. Her hands slowly felt numb, and she realized that she was being encased in ice yet again. Looking up, she saw Gray's smirk, and she knew that he was probably getting ready to finish her off once and for good. A small smile escaped her lips. She was going to die at the hands of her beloved, a thought that brought happiness to most women. At least her dark cloud had a silver lining. Her will to fight back had long gone, there was no way she would raise her fist at the man her heart had yearned for. So she closed her eyes, the last thing they captured was his face.

However, suddenly the ice stopped its course throughout Juvia's body. She was a bit startled, and wondered whether he had changed his mind about killing her. Then she felt the warmth of something on her body, something that felt a bit sticky and gooey, and the coldness of the ice seeped away. She shifted her gaze to her torso, and saw mud having covered her body. It had the odd shape of a human being, and she was startled. There had been no mud at all in the island, owing to the fact that it had not rained for a while now. _Who on earth?_ She wondered, but her thoughts were answered, as she saw beside her, a new person had appeared.

It was a woman, by the shape of her body, and on her head lay red hair, almost bordering pink. Juvia had no idea who the woman was, but it made sense that she was the one who had saved Juvia. The woman was Sherry Blendy.

_End_

**A/N: **Well that went really well, I'm happy that I managed to make this chapter have more words than the previous one, plus everything went as I had imagined it had. Sorry about the fact that there was no Natsu and Erza in this chapter, I wanted to show Lucy and Levy, plus a bit of Juvia, and also explain about our antagonists a little. So in that aspect it went really well. I hope you guys enjoy it, make sure to read and review. **NAZA IS LOVE, NAZA IS LIFE.**


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